Why is youtube-dl blocked

[Bob]

** Reply to message from Bret Busby <bret at busby.net> on Thu, 2 Nov 2023
07:01:58 +0800

> On 2/11/23 05:00, Mario Marietto wrote:
> > Does anyone know if there is some good alternative ? Sometimes I buy 
> > some courses from udemy and I would like to download the files to watch 
> > them offline. I used youtube-dl but now it does not work anymore and I 
> > haven't found an alternative.
> > 
> > On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 9:41 PM Keith <keithw at caramail.com 
> > <mailto:keithw at caramail.com>> wrote:
> > 
> >     On 11/1/23 2:25 PM, Bret Busby wrote:
> >      > Hello.
> >      >
> >      > In trying to download a video from youtube, using youtube-dl, I
> >     got the
> >      > error message
> >      >
> >      > "
> >      > ERROR: Unable to extract uploader id; please report this issue on
> >      > https://yt-dl.org/bug <https://yt-dl.org/bug> . Make sure you are
> >     using the latest version; see
> >      > https://yt-dl.org/update <https://yt-dl.org/update>  on how to
> >     update. Be sure to call youtube-dl
> >      > with the --verbose flag and include its complete output.
> >      > "
> >      >
> >      > Now, trying to go to
> >      > https://yt-dl.org/update <https://yt-dl.org/update>
> >      > returns
> >      >
> >      > "
> >      > Access denied
> >      >
> >      > Due to a ruling of the Hamburg Regional Court, access to this
> >     website is
> >      > blocked.
> >      > "
> >      >
> >      > Now, in that text, the word "ruling" is a hypertext link, that
> >     leads toi
> >      > a web page that is in german, with no english option available
> >     for the
> >      > web page.
> >      >
> >      >
> >     Just put the link URL in google translate. With the chromium browser
> >     there's popup to auto-translate the page from German to English. I'm
> >     guessing Google Chrome, or other chromium-based browsers like Opera or
> >     Brave may do that as well.
> > 
> >     Basically, the developer(s) got sued by media companies, lost, and are
> >     forced to remove the software from the internet.
> > 
> >     -- 
> >     Keith
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Mario.
> In Firefox, is an add-on named Easy Youtube Video Downloader, but I have 
> not been able to get it to download at resolution higher than 720p for a 
> while; I have found that it works only for youtube videos.
> 
> I also have multiple Ad blockers (and tracking blockers, etc) add-ons 
> installed, in Firefox, including Adblocker for Youtube.
> 
> For MOOC videos and other non-youtube videos, I use primarily the Video 
> Downloader Professional add-on in Firefox. When that does not work, I 
> try (and, if it works, use) Video Download Helper (another add-on for 
> Firefox).
> 

I saw a post on another list that stated that youtube was tired of all the add
blockers and they were fighting back.  I did not pay too much attention to the
post since I do not use youtube much.